Saturday, October 21, 2017

October 21, 1974 – The largest cash robbery in the
history of the universe is discovered early in the morning on this date at the
Purolator Armored Express vaults at 127 West Huron Street. Over $4.3 million in unmarked bills is taken
from one of the vaults. Gasoline bombs are left to explode and cover up any
evidence, but a lack of oxygen in the vaults causes the fires to burn out
quickly. Detectives say that there are
no signs of forced entry to the vault, which has concrete walls that are over a
foot thick, a pretty obvious indication that this is an inside job. It doesn’t take long for the crime to
unravel. Tony Marzano, a 33-year-old
scam artist, enlists his cousin Charlie to go in with him on the robbery. They get their pal, Ralph Marrera, to hire on
as a night watchman on weekends, and through him are able to paw through the
offices of a senior officer of the company, where they find the combination to
the vault’s lock. Things begin to break
bad when another hood, Pete Gushi, fails to arrange for the boat intended to
take the robbers from Miami to Grand Cayman, where they plan to stash the cash
in a “no questions asked” bank. The
Marzano’s eventually get the cash to Grand Cayman, but the bank won’t accept it
because it doesn’t have the staff necessary to count 700 pounds in unmarked
bills. Gushi sings, Marrera attempts
suicide, and the whole case is wrapped up within a month.

October 21, 1965 – The Chicago Tribune reports that Lake Point Tower, “a broadly curved three-winged high rise of 900 apartments” [Chicago Tribune, October 21, 1965] will be built east of Lake Shore Drive not far from Navy Pier.It will be the world’s tallest reinforced concrete building.The paper reports, “The tower, sheathed in glass and aluminum, will dominate a landscaped base structure covering the block bounded by Grand avenue, Streeter drive, Illinois street, and Lake Shore drive on the west.”Two developers – Harnett-Shaw & Associates, a New York firm and Fluor Properties of Los Angeles – will back the project.The land on which the building will be built is leased property from the Chicago Dock and Canal Company, a company that traces its origins all the way back to Chicago’s first mayor, William B. Ogden.